A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc. Flight simulation is used for a variety of reasons, including flight training, the design and development of the aircraft itself, and research into aircraft characteristics and control handling qualities.
Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unprecedented fast and flexible battlefield network. The U.S. Army claimed it was their "most ambitious and far-reaching modernization" program since World War II. Between 1995 and 2009, $32 billion was expended on programs such as this, "with little to show for it".
The history of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) is closely tied to the general history of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). While the technology dates back at least as far as the 1940s, common usage in live operations came in the 2000s. UCAVs have now become an important part of modern warfare, including in the Syrian civil war, the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
SIMNET was a wide area network with vehicle simulators and displays for real-time distributed combat simulation: tanks, helicopters and airplanes in a virtual battlefield. SIMNET was developed for and used by the United States military. SIMNET development began in the mid-1980s, was fielded starting in 1987, and was used for training until successor programs came online well into the 1990s.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory is the U.S. Army's foundational research laboratory. ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) in Adelphi, Maryland. Its largest single site is at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Other major ARL locations include Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Graces Quarters, Maryland, and NASA's Glenn Research Center, Ohio and Langley Research Center, Virginia. ARL also has regional sites in Playa Vista, California, Chicago, Austin, TX, and Boston.
VirtuSphere is a spherical virtual reality device. It consists of a 10-foot hollow sphere, which is placed on a special platform that allows the sphere to rotate freely in any direction according to the user’s steps. It works with computer based simulations and virtual worlds, and rotates as the user walks, allowing for an unlimited plane upon which the user can walk. A wireless head-mounted display with gyroscopes is used to both track the user's head movement as well as display the environment of the virtual world. VirtuSphere can serve many purposes, including exercise, video gaming, military training, and virtual museum tours.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is the principal tenant command located at Naval Support Activity Crane in Indiana.
Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, or HWIL, is a technique that is used in the development and testing of complex real-time embedded systems. HIL simulation provides an effective testing platform by adding the complexity of the process-actuator system, known as a plant, to the test platform. The complexity of the plant under control is included in testing and development by adding a mathematical representation of all related dynamic systems. These mathematical representations are referred to as the "plant simulation". The embedded system to be tested interacts with this plant simulation.
A program executive officer, or PEO, is one of a few key individuals in the United States military acquisition process. As can be seen from the examples below, a program executive officer may be responsible for a specific program, or for an entire portfolio of similar programs.
The Aggregate Level Simulation Protocol (ALSP) is a protocol and supporting software that enables simulations to interoperate with one another. Replaced by the High Level Architecture (simulation) (HLA), it was used by the US military to link analytic and training simulations.
List of abbreviations, acronyms and initials related to military subjects such as modern armour, artillery, infantry, and weapons, along with their definitions.
The Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR) is an independent and objective agency within the United States Navy for the operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) of naval aviation, surface warfare, submarine warfare, C4I, cryptologic, and space systems in support Navy and Department of Defense acquisition programs.
Live, Virtual, & Constructive (LVC) Simulation is a broadly used taxonomy for classifying Modeling and Simulation (M&S). However, categorizing a simulation as a live, virtual, or constructive environment is problematic since there is no clear division among these categories. The degree of human participation in a simulation is infinitely variable, as is the degree of equipment realism. The categorization of simulations also lacks a category for simulated people working real equipment.
The United States Army Simulation and Training Technology Center (STTC) provides the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Homeland Security, with applied research to develop simulation technologies, build on current simulation knowledge, and understand system of systems environments where human, agent, and teams are involved.
A battlefield management system (BMS) is a system meant to integrate information acquisition and processing to enhance command and control of a military unit through multiple other C4ISR(Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) solutions to give commanding officers, NCOs or individual vehicles better situational awareness to friendly units around them and prevent "blue on blue" incidents, provide better situational awareness to OPFOR units seen by friendly units, speed relaying of orders and thus accelerate combat operations and maneuvers, facilitating fire support orders as an enemy can be marked by a squad leader on his terminals map and then have the location relayed directly to artillery, CAS or other firesupport
JEFX, or Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment, was the periodic US Air Force-led operational experiment created to evaluate new technologies and war fighting concepts in a simulated wartime battle environment. It was an outgrowth of the C4I Initiative mandated by the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986. It was monitored by the Air Force senior leadership and each event culminated with a report for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
A battle lab or battle laboratory is an organization dedicated to studying changes in the military.
The United States Army Futures Command (AFC) is a United States Army command that runs modernization projects. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The Human Engineering Laboratory (HEL) was a research institution under the U.S. Army Materiel Command that specialized in human performance research, human factors engineering, robotics, and human-in-the-loop technology. Located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, HEL acted as the Army’s lead laboratory for human factors and ergonomics research from 1951 to 1992, during which researchers investigated methods to maximize combat effectiveness, improve weapons and equipment designs, and reduce operation costs and errors. HEL was one of the seven Army laboratories that merged together to form the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in 1992.
